"Smile and Climb, Boys! Smile and Climb!"

Probably the best ‘Clean Dirt Kid’ Presidents’ Day weekend of all time!!

Stef and I took the boys down to St. George for a 4-day weekend to celebrate the great weather and, WOW, we were in for a treat!  We arrived late Thursday night and then took the boys out for their first ascent in their brand new Petzl Ouistiti climbing harness on Friday morning.  We ended up exploring a local crag just west of Ivins called Shotgun Alley. It was only a few minutes from Sam and Wendy’s place which Sawyer affectionately refers to as “the St. George House.” What a great location!  There were numerous sport climbing options, many of which were easy top-rope climbs and Sawyer got his first taste of being on the wall, securely dangling from a rope.  Part love, part “a little sacred,” large part Spiderman, Sawyer ended up having a great time and bragging about how good he was for the remainder of the weekend.  Even Talmage got on the wall...just long enough for a photo op. We did end up rock climbing in Shotgun Alley again on Monday morning so Sawyer could show Grandma and Grandpa how good he was. What a gutsy 3 year old!  Yes, I am that beaming proud papa!! However, the best part of this story is that this was far from the pinnacle of Sawyer’s weekend success.

Saturday consisted of a couple short hikes; a quick 1 miler to some local petroglyphs and another 1.75 miler in Johnson’s Canyon, just outside of Snow Canyon.  These gave us all a good warm up for what was on the horizon for Sunday afternoon.

We finally arrived in fee-free Zion National Park just after 1:00pm.  Stef, Sawyer, Grandpa Jeppson, Jim Robertson, and I with Talmage in tow, set off to tackle the prize of the park, Angels Landing.  Fully realizing we would never be able to get Sawyer up and back without some substantial sitting-on-the-shoulders time, Stef and I had prepared ourselves for the 5-mile, 1,488 ft ascent battle ahead.  After the first couple hundred yards when Sawyer wanted to stop for ‘just a minute’ and ended up draining his entire water bottle, we knew we would be in for a treat.  However, as the going got tough, the Sawyer kept going.  By far the toughest kid on the mountain, he not only made it up and back without being carried, he kept us entertained throughout the journey.  As we were traversing a pretty treacherous stretch of mountain constantly hanging on to the ever present chains to keep us from plummeting hundreds of feet down the steep terrain, Sawyer looks up at our group and encouragingly declares in all seriousness, “Smile and Climb, Boys! Smile and Climb!”  After we stopped rolling with laughter, we did eventually make it to the top of the peak.  An especially big thanks to Grandpa Jeppson and Jim Robertson for helping Stef ensure Sawyer’s safety in this precarious situation we so willingly encouraged him intoJ.  Talmage held his ground equally well and actually did very little complaining despite being stuck in the Kelty FC 3.0 for almost 4 straight hours.  He enjoyed the views from 1,488 ft above the park’s floor and only took a short 30 minute cat nap on the way back down the trail.

All in all, what a fantastic clean dirt weekend!  We were able to log somewhere between 8-9 miles of hiking and top that off with a handful of completed routes climbed in Shotgun Alley.  You know you had a great vacation when returning back to regular life is a breather from your hard fought battles in the outdoors…and this crazy family wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything!